System and method for providing cooling during refrigerant leak

A method for operating a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system configured to regulate a temperature of a space, the method comprising:

• for at least two occasions:
• obtaining information related to a detected concentration of a refrigerant in a volume;
• comparing the detected concentration of refrigerant with a threshold concentration;
• and determining that the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeds the threshold concentration;
• executing a mitigation plan until the detected concentration of refrigerant is less than the threshold concentration;
• in response to determining that the HVAC system does not operate in a safe mode, wherein, in the safe mode, a blower of the HVAC system is set to operate continuously:
• determining a number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration;
• determining whether the number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration is more than a threshold value;
• and in response to determining that the number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration is more than the threshold value:
• operating the HVAC system in the safe mode;
• and communicating a first alert message, wherein the first alert message indicates a refrigerant leak is detected.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• for at least two occasions:
• obtain information related to a detected concentration of a refrigerant in a volume;
• compare the detected concentration of refrigerant with a threshold concentration;
• and
• determine that the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeds the threshold concentration;
• execute a mitigation plan until the detected concentration of refrigerant is less than the threshold concentration;
• in response to determining that a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system does not operate in a safe mode, wherein, in the safe mode, a blower of the HVAC system is set to operate continuously:
• determine a number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration;
• determine whether the number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration is more than a threshold value;
• and
• in response to determining that the number of times where the detected concentration of refrigerant exceeded the threshold concentration is more than the threshold value:
• operate the HVAC system in the safe mode;
• and
• communicate a first alert message, wherein the first alert message indicates a refrigerant leak is detected.